More than 500 demonstrators gathered in downtown Tuesday to decry recent federal immigration raids and demand the Long Beach City Council allocate millions of dollars more to a municipal fund that provides legal aid for those facing deportation.
Protesters began assembling at Harvey Milk Promenade Park around 3 p.m. before marching the half-mile route to the Long Beach Civic Center, where a 5 p.m. rally was scheduled to push the City Council to bolster its current sanctuary laws, which already bar most forms of cooperation with federal immigration officials.
Many rallygoers left as evening fell, but a smaller group of about 250 stayed beyond, blocking lanes as they marched on Ocean Boulevard. Eventually, they occupied the street in front of the Civic Center. Police formed a skirmish line and declared the assembly unlawful around 8 p.m.
Officers on a loudspeaker repeatedly asked people to leave the street and warned they would use chemical irritants and rubber bullets. Demonstrators continued to chant “peaceful protest” and “ICE out of Long Beach.”
When the group began marching eastbound on Ocean Boulevard again, police fell back and let them keep moving. The crowd gathered in nearby Lincoln Park but soon dispersed as officers kept their distance.
Tuesday’s protest is one of several around the country since immigration raids began in the Los Angeles region Friday. In California over the past week, demonstrators also gathered in downtown Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Ana.
It comes after five days of protests that have sprung up across the Los Angeles region over immigration enforcement raids that prompted President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops and Marines. While many were peaceful, some have resulted in clashes with law enforcement as officers made arrests and used chemical irritants to disperse crowds.
Outside of downtown Los Angeles, raids across the region have targeted numerous communities, including recently in Huntington Park. A staging area in the mostly-Latino city of Paramount also became a flashpoint Saturday between demonstrators and federal agents. Federal personnel have also been reported in Long Beach, but confirmed details about where they were stationed and what they were doing are sparse.
In addition to condemning the feds’ actions, organizers used Tuesday’s rally to demand the City Council invest another $2.2 million in the Long Beach Justice Fund, which pays legal bills for local workers and residents fighting deportation, saying it’s only a matter of time before raids spill into the city.
“Our city can invest $2.2 million RIGHT NOW in the Justice Fund, providing legal support when immigrant families face detention or deportation,” ÓRALE, a Long Beach group focused on immigrant rights, wrote on Saturday. “The raids happened in LA today. They could happen in Long Beach tomorrow.”
A similar call was made by the Filipino Migrant Center in an online post on Saturday.
The push for the Fund’s expansion also includes state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, who helped author legislation establishing the program when she was on the local City Council. In a letter to the city Tuesday, Gonzalez, along with Congressman Robert Garcia and Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, asked the city to include the allocation in its next budget cycle.
“This moment in history demands that we strengthen our structural investments in justice and protection,” the trio wrote.
Gonzalez said she was “horrified” by the presence of the National Guard troops in Paramount, which is part of her district. More funding to fight deportations is “absolutely” a necessary safeguard for Long Beach, she said.
As of mid-afternoon, Gonzalez said she had not received a response from the city.
Responding to comments on social media calling to expand the fund, Mayor Rex Richardson said the item “is not on the agenda tonight. The city’s annual budget process begins in August.”
Gonzalez said that she understands this, but “ in the meantime, everyone is very much feeling anxious about the moment.”
Organizers concluded the rally by saying they will meet outside the weekly City Council meeting every Tuesday in August to maintain political pressure. The budget is typically deliberated upon starting in August and signed in September.
Established in 2018, the Justice Fund was expanded last September by $1.1 million. In January, the city approved an additional $200,000 from last year’s budget, “should surplus funds be available.”
It affords free legal representation to Long Beach residents and workers facing deportation at the immigration courts in Los Angeles, Van Nuys, Santa Ana or the Adelanto Detention Facility.
Gonzalez cited a 2021 report that in Long Beach, a majority of local immigrants fight their deportation cases “without adequate legal representation.”
The most recent U.S. Census counted nearly 55,000 Long Beach residents who are noncitizens — either lawful permanent residents, under Temporary Protected Status, awaiting their court date, DACA recipients or without status altogether.
The Trump Administration said it will keep up its program of deportations despite the protests. “ICE will continue to enforce the law,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted Tuesday on social media.